


We Don't Leave Men Behind

by FawnoftheWoods



Series: Not Alone Anymore [21]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers as family, BAMF Tony Stark, Canon-Typical Violence, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 22:43:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17858399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FawnoftheWoods/pseuds/FawnoftheWoods
Summary: As Steve is recovering from the fall into the Potomac, he's trying to figure out how to move forward and search for Bucky.  Thankfully, he has a team.





	We Don't Leave Men Behind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LBibliophile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LBibliophile/gifts), [RikasGrayWolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikasGrayWolf/gifts).



> This is in response to several requests for more STRIKE team and from LBibliophile's request on Steve's initial search for Bucky or lack thereof.
> 
> This takes place directly after the previous fic.

Steve stared at the video footage.  Tony had pieced together most of his adventure from various sources JARVIS had access to, probably not always legally, and gifted it to Steve as he recovered from the fight of his life with his brother.  Steve reached out and rested a finger on the blurry image that was Bucky. Well, he used to be Bucky. The man on the screen was the Winter Soldier. He didn’t smile, didn’t laugh, didn’t protect and he certainly didn’t recognize Steve.  

When Steve first saw Bucky without his mask, it was like the world turned grey and nothing else worked.  By the time he’d come back to the world in any way Hill was cutting a hole in a van and Natasha was bleeding out.  Now, watching the video, Steve could see how his team had rallied around him when he went non-communicative. He saw the STRIKE team close ranks around him.  

It was probably good that he wasn’t responding or he might have started a fight with Rumlow.  And Rollins. The tap with the gun and whatever they’d whispered to him, he’d have started something for sure.  

He could see the rest of the team chuckling as they drove.  Vaguely, he remembered them saying something about finding a quiet spot to bury the bodies.  Assassins. Steve glowered at the figures on his screen. He wondered what had happened to the dozen... _ Wait! _

There were a dozen men on the top STRIKE team, assuming a mission didn’t add any extras.  Steve counted the men on the screen again and got the same answer as before, ten. Frowning, the video minimized so Steve could hunt for the elevator fight he went through.  Pausing it just as he asked if anyone wanted off, he counted.

Ten again.

With the elevator scene, he had a much closer, clearer picture.  It allowed him to identify everyone. Rumlow and Rollins were easy to find.  Christoff had welded that taser baton and Steve had enjoyed using it to take out Hardison, his partner.  Rollins pets, Findley, Dalh and Strivastava, all went down early on, dogpiling and getting hit in the same way.  Rilley and Johnson had kept getting up and outside of Rumlow, they were the last to go down. Galsh had been one of the ones with the cuffs and caught an elbow to the face early on.  Where were Davis and Woo?

Steve rolled back the cameras, but they never boarded the elevator.  “JARVIS, do you have access to the other camera footage from SHIELDRA?”

Tony had taken to calling it that and Steve was pissed enough to like it.  Besides, the nickname had made Natasha smile, even if vindictively. She was still in a dark place.

“Affirmative.”

“Can you search for an agent by face?”

“As long as their face on their identification matches the face in the video and they are facing the camera with 65% facial coverage.”

“See if you can find two STRIKE Team members, Davis and Woo.”

While JARVIS was searching, Steve leaned back.  His gaze out the window was interrupted by Natasha sliding into the seat next to him.

“Hey.  How’re you holding up?”  Steve asked, trying to read her body language.  Realistically only Clint had any luck, but he thought he should give it a try.

“I’m getting there.  You?”

“I’m fine.”

“Liar”

Steve grinned at her, “I take offense at that remark.  I am not a liar. I merely report the truth from a different perspective.”

“I get worried when you mimic Tony.”

Steve grimaced.  Tasha was too good at reading him.  

“You going after your boy?”  Her hand gestured to the screen.

Steve returned his gaze to the window.  “He’s Bucky. Whether he remembers or not, he’s Bucky.  Even when I had nothing I had him.”

Natasha stared at him long enough that he sighed.

“I know, I have the Avengers now.  Don’t worry I won’t abandon my post.”

“Never said you would.”

“I just...I'm not sure yet how to do both.”  Steve leaned forward on his elbows. JARVIS helpfully moved the holoscreens out of his way so he could tuck his head on his hands.

Natasha got up, but he didn’t look at her.  He heard her drop a folder in front of him and place a hand on his shoulder.  “The thing is, whether you currently have Bucky or not, you have a great deal more than nothing.”

Steve didn’t look up until he heard the door swish closed behind her.  In front of his was a folder. When he opened it, half the writing was in Russian, translated in Natasha’s tiny handwriting.  On the left side was a picture of Bucky in ice above his army picture.

_ You have a great deal more than nothing _

Steve smiled remembering another time he tried to go it alone.

_ The thing is, you don’t have too. _

* * *

Steve had only read half the material when he heard the science bros arguing behind him.  That meant Bruce had gotten hungry. He had a lower limit for hunger than Tony which often meant he would drag the engineer out of the shop still discussing something while he scrounged in the kitchen for both of them.  

Steve had to grin when he heard Bruce finally get exasperated and tell Tony to let him make his sandwich in peace or the other guy would make the kitchen in pieces.  Not an idle threat.

“He’s just crabby because his paper on cellular integration of macrophages with advanced M2 phenotypes won him a speaking gig.  What’s got you so fascinated?”

Steve glanced at Tony as the man leaned over the folder he had open.  Tony grimaced. “Yeah, there’s more information on the net after you and Tasha dumped their servers open source.  Its nightmare inducing and I don’t know the guy.”

Steve sobered up quickly at that.

“Hey, no, wait!  It’ll work out. Awwww!  Brucie! I scared Cap’s smile away!  That’s got to be like a treasonous event or something right?  I’ve betrayed the American people!” Tony wailed in the direction of the kitchen.  By the time Tony stopped wailing and started pouting, Steve was chuckling as rolling his eyes.  Tony was too silly.

“Anyway, have JARVIS scan that folder so it can be added to the stuff we already have.”  Tony waved at the folder as Bruce came into the room with two plates. Tony squealed and dove for the closer one, hugging it tight.  “My favorite!”

Steve looked at him worriedly, “How long has he been up?”

Bruce chuckled.  “Too long, but not as long as you’re thinking.  Rhodes let me in on a secret before he left for DC.  Tony would always be up to eat his favorite sandwich, peanut butter, jelly and banana.”  

Steve blinked and stared at the genius behind the physicist.  Tony was at the countertop slowly munching on one of three sandwiches, making obscenely pleasured sounds with every chew.  

Bruce leaned closer.  "I discovered that if he ever actually tries to resist I simply add chocolate syrup and he’s a goner.  Besides once he eats, he sometimes slows down enough to sleep.”

Steve shook his head, grinning.  Bruce gave him a satisfied look. “That’s better.  Its hard to see you so gloomy. You’re usually the one that sees the bright side of everything.”

Steve sighed, “It gets tiring being Captain America all the time.”

Tony snorted behind Bruce.  “Captain America is just Steve Rogers with a chip on his shoulder.  He’s not cheerful, he’s way too serious.” Tony’s pocket beeped and he snagged the last half of sandwich as he pranced out the door.

Bruce chuckled.  Before he left he look back at Steve, “You know, Tony’s right.  The Avengers follow Steve Rogers. Not Captain America.”

Steve stared after the man as he shuffled out with his sandwich.

_ That little guy from Brooklyn to dumb not to run away from a fight.  That’s who I’m following _

* * *

After the science bros retreated to their lab once again, Steve decided it had indeed been way too long since he’s eaten himself.  JARVIS interrupted his meal to report that he’d found the footage Steve had been looking for.

The STRIKE Team was gathered in a briefing room.  JARVIS threw up what lip reading his program could interpret.  They were being sent to pick him up for questioning. They were also being warned that if given a signal, they’d apprehend him.  

Woo asked questions, but Rumlow shut him down, hard.  The group dispersed rather quickly after that. JARVIS pulled up a second scene.  Time index was before the elevator fight.

Davis was arguing with Woo, heatedly.  JARVIS couldn’t get a good line on their mouths to read lips, but Steve could tell from the body languages.  Davis was showing Woo something on a pad when a knock from the door startled them.

Rollins had been behind the door.

“JARVIS any sound at all?”

“Unfortunately not.  In fact, this recording was found on the recursive servers Sir put in place.  At the time of the download by you and Agent Romanov, this had been deleted from SHIELD servers.”

Steve gritted his teeth in anger at that.  Especially when the discussion between the three STRIKE teammates turned south with Rollins pulling out his favorite small firearm and shooting Woo.  He missed only because Davis seemed to have expected it, jumping in front and shoving the silencer up. 

Galsh, who’d been behind Rollins came forward as Rollins was thrown at a closet.  Davis grappled with the man as Woo propped a bar in the closet handles. Galsh took some good hits before Woo and Davis fled.  That explain why a simply elbow took him out in the elevator.

JARVIS automatically followed their path on the cameras.  They headed for the exit. They almost made it too. Rumlow apparently knew his team better than even Steve had thought.  

Steve groaned in despair as Rumlow spoke to them, toying with the gun in his hand.

“I had wondered what had happened to them.”  Phil’s soft voice startled Steve so badly he knocked the chair over as he stood.  Phil was looking at the footage with a glower.

“I’d heard most of the STRIKE team turn, but Woo and Davis were solid.  Davis came up through NYPD and Woo from FBI. They always were more interested in helping people out than following orders.  I had my doubts about them turning with the rest of the team. When Hill reported them missing from your confrontation, I assumed they’d turned down the offer.”  Phil’s soft voice reminded Steve that Phil had probably lost some good friends during the fight, either to HYDRA or to death.

JARVIS had paused the playback.  Steve could see the two agents crouched, looking for a way out.  That was the biggest thing he hated about HYDRA. They circled you and circled you, cutting off every avenue before you even knew they were there.  In the end, your own helplessness was the very weapon they used most efficiently.

Steve inhaled slowly and gestured to JARVIS to continue playing.  Steve and Phil watched as Rumlow spoke to the two agents for a few moments before raising the gun.  Davis seemed to have been waiting for that. The man leaped forward, shoving his partner at the window.  Steve knew they were still 13 stories up. But Davis wrestled Rumlow for the gun.

Steve watched as Woo wavered between going to help and trying his luck with the window.  In the end, Steve thought the amount of blood on the floor made his decision. Davis had taken a hit when he’d leaped forward.  Steve could see him shouting as he desperately latched on to the struggling team leader. Davis wasn’t planning on getting away. Steve suddenly realized that this was the point.

When Davis had started the conversation with Woo earlier, he’d already known.  He’d gone back for his partner. Rumlow finally shook him off as Woo went through the window.

Rumlow rushed to the window, but whatever he saw only increased his anger.  He walked over to where Davis was laying on the floor panting. Steve could barely see the man’s face in the video.  

Davis was smiling.  

The man had succeeded in rescuing his partner.  He was looking Rumlow in the face in triumph as the man shot him in the forehead.

Phil moaned in distress next to Steve and Steve couldn’t move fast enough to catch the man as he slid down to his knees.  Luckily, he didn’t have to. Clint’s strong arms cradled the handler as Phil struggled to control his shuddering breath.

“Davis was a good guy.”  Clint’s soft words didn’t reach far.  “He came from a crime family, became a cop to protect his wife and kid from the street gangs.  Fury noticed him when he went undercover in a gang. He had the muscle to back himself up. He joined SHIELD a few years ago.  His kid is only 8. Phil and I met him last year.”

Steve swallowed as Phil seemed to gather himself.  “JARVIS, any outside surveillance that could help?”

“None with any direct line of sight.  There are no reports of any body found either.”  JARVIS report gave Steve hope.

Phil too, apparently.  “Jimmy had contacts from the FBI days.  He’s fast and strong himself. He could be out there.  I partnered them so Davis could slow him down a bit, temper his hot headedness.  When they joined STRIKE, I convinced Nick to keep them together.”

Clint nodded as the handler stood again, firmer in his faculties now.  “I can reach out, see what pops loose. I know a few guys in the FBI that may be able to help.”

Phil nodded.  Clint disappeared into the vents.  He hadn’t gone far before he poked his head down again.  “By the way Steve, Nat’s not the only one with contacts. Give me a little while to see what I can dig up.”

Steve started in amazement.  He hadn’t expected that. He looked at Phil, who was staring at the smiling face of Agent Jefferson Davis.

“Don’t worry Jeff.  We’ll find him. We don’t leave our men behind.”  Phil turned to leave, but placed a hand on Steve’s shoulder.  “Even if it takes a while to find them, we don’t leave men behind.”

* * *

Steve had been through the folder twice by the time he realized a person had joined him at the table.  He glanced over at Sam in confusion, but the man seemed content to stare out the window and steal off his lunch plate.

Steve growled and picked up his sandwich and bit into it aggressively.  He was actually starving.

Sam grinned and kept picking off various bits that had fallen off the sub.  He was nibbling on a piece of cheese when Steve finally spoke.

“I’m going to look for him.”

“Duh, Saw that a mile away.”

“I can’t go out myself.  I have too many responsibilities here.”

“Man, I don’t even have to ask.”

Steve grinned.  He liked that about Sam.  They had a connection different from the one he had witht he rest of the team.

“But you know, “  Sam toyed with a piece of lettuce.  “You’ve got a great team here with a lot of different skills.”

Steve blinked at him in surprise before nodding in agreement.  “They’re great!”

“Yeah.  And, hey, downstairs there’s this genius who’s rebuilding my wings.”  Sam shrugged as he popped the lettuce in his mouth. “Just sayin’.”

* * *

Later that evening, Steve took the folder to Tony.  He knew he had a favor to ask. And he knew Tony would be thrilled to help.

Because they were more than friends.

They were family.

**Author's Note:**

> The italic quotes are from the Captain America Movies  
> The thing is, you don’t have too. - Bucky after Steve's Mother's funeral  
> That little guy from Brooklyn to dumb not to run away from a fight. That’s who I’m following - Bucky when Steve asks him to join the Howling Commandoes
> 
> Jefferson Davis is the Father of Miles Morales who became Spider-Man after Peter Parker's death  
> James Woo 's history is pretty much as stated here. He continues in SHIELD originally until he is sucked into Atlas and then I get confused


End file.
